diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml
index bbcef543fa6..7edd52865f7 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Local = false
+Local = true
 Cloud = true
 RequiresWarehouse = true
 RunsOnDbr = true
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml
index 731f8ff31b5..58053ece188 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Cloud = true
-Local = false
+Local = true
 RecordRequests = false
 RunsOnDbr = true
 
diff --git a/libs/testserver/dashboards.go b/libs/testserver/dashboards.go
index 10cc03a477c..d29ff6f11d7 100644
--- a/libs/testserver/dashboards.go
+++ b/libs/testserver/dashboards.go
@@ -32,11 +32,18 @@ func transformSerializedDashboard(serializedDashboard, datasetCatalog, datasetSc
 		return serializedDashboard
 	}
 
+	// The real backend stores and returns the serialized dashboard verbatim,
+	// modulo the mutations applied below. Track whether any mutation actually
+	// happens so we can preserve the caller's original formatting (whitespace
+	// and key order) when it doesn't, matching cloud behavior.
+	mutated := false
+
 	// Add pageType to each page in the pages array (as of June 2025, this is an undocumented Lakeview API behaviour)
 	if pages, ok := dashboardContent["pages"].([]any); ok {
 		for _, page := range pages {
 			if pageMap, ok := page.(map[string]any); ok {
 				pageMap["pageType"] = "PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS"
+				mutated = true
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -47,21 +54,32 @@ func transformSerializedDashboard(serializedDashboard, datasetCatalog, datasetSc
 			if datasetMap, ok := dataset.(map[string]any); ok {
 				if datasetCatalog != "" {
 					datasetMap["catalog"] = datasetCatalog
+					mutated = true
 				}
 				if datasetSchema != "" {
 					datasetMap["schema"] = datasetSchema
+					mutated = true
 				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	updatedContent, err := json.Marshal(dashboardContent)
-	if err != nil {
-		return serializedDashboard
+	// Without mutations cloud preserves the caller's formatting verbatim;
+	// otherwise it re-marshals the content.
+	result := serializedDashboard
+	if mutated {
+		updatedContent, err := json.Marshal(dashboardContent)
+		if err != nil {
+			return serializedDashboard
+		}
+		result = string(updatedContent)
 	}
 
-	// Add a newline to the end of the serialized dashboard.
-	return string(updatedContent) + "\n"
+	// Cloud always terminates the stored dashboard with a single trailing newline.
+	if !strings.HasSuffix(result, "\n") {
+		result += "\n"
+	}
+	return result
 }
 
 func (s *FakeWorkspace) DashboardCreate(req Request) Response {